LEFT: A parking deck provides a bird’s eye view of the busy junction that lies on the Chicago “L” above the intersection of Lake and Wells Streets. Connections are made in three of the four quadrants of the junction.
BELOW: A CTA Blue Line train bound for O’Hare Airport makes a station stop at Belmont. After leaving this station, the rails return to ground level in the median of I-94.
BOTTOM: Fans shoot the Southwest Chief from the railfan overlook as the eastbound Amtrak train accelerates away from the depot in La Plata, Mo., on October 20. An average of 30 passengers per day use this station on this former Santa Fe rout across Missouri.
I had a Superliner roomette on the
Chief, but since I’d be detraining at about 9:00 p.m. the bed wasn’t required. I enjoyed dinner in the dining car before retiring to my roomette. A little before 9:00 the conductor came by and said, “We’re approaching your stop, Steve.” Apparently Amtrak’s computers allow conductors to know the names of their passengers. Once in La Plata, a shuttle van met me at the station and took me to the Depot Inn & Suites.
On Saturday I morning I met up with conference hosts Henry Kisor and Carl Morrison, and we headed off in the Suites’ van to downtown La Plata where we enjoyed a railroadiana sale at the Silver Rails Event Center. The Wabash at one time passed through La Plata, but now only the former Santa Fe remained north of town.
After lunch I enjoyed some train watching from the railroad overlook in town. The Santa Fe passes directly be- low the lookout point, and a shelter (complete with ATCS Monitor) is built on an embankment where the Wabash once crossed the Santa Fe on a bridge. I watched several trains go by (some- where around ten in an hour), then did the short hike back to the Inn. The next few days (Sunday-Tuesday) had the seminars in the morning and usually a short afternoon activity including visits to the Silver Rails Art Gallery and the headquarters of Train Party which, as the name implies, stocks everything you could possibly want for your next train-themed event. Bob and Amy Cox were gracious hosts at both locations. Bob is also the caretaker of La Plata’s Amtrak station, and he provided a his- torical tour of the facility.
The weather had deteriorated from Saturday, so I spent most afternoons at the Inn. I did get back to the overlook on Tuesday night to shoot the South- west Chief making its evening stop at
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